


The Avengers Initiative

by Buskuta



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-26
Updated: 2019-05-26
Packaged: 2020-03-19 23:14:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18980335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Buskuta/pseuds/Buskuta
Summary: "But,why?" Peter asks desperately. "Why do you wantme?"Fury sighs. He walks over to the window and leans against the sill, staring out at the rain. Peter suddenly realizes how tired Fury looks, and it hits him for just how long Fury has been doing this: trying, for years, to assemble a stable, reliable team of heroes.There is a long stretch of silence, where all what can be heard in the dark hotel room is the rain outside."Heroes," Fury finally says. "It's an old fashioned notion."-Nick Fury never stopped believing in the Avengers, no matter how much time passed by.





	The Avengers Initiative

**Author's Note:**

> Most of my stories, whether they are fanfiction or original works, always begin with a feeling.
> 
> This story began with a hard thought.
> 
> This is a personal project more than anything. A lot of research went into this. I'm having fun writing it, while simultaneously learning more about the MCU and writing in general.

**1995**

After Goose regurgitates the Tesseract, Nick Fury stashes away Danvers’ emergency pager. The only reason he hadn’t before was if Goose had somehow absorbed the power of the Tesseract, or otherwise not have coughed it back up. But now that he has it – in safe hands - he has no real reason to call Captain Marvel. 

Fury puts the pager in a locked safe underneath the floorboards of his office. He supposes, logically, that a pager probably doesn’t require so much security, but Danvers said to only call him if it’s an emergency, so he won’t let the device fall into the wrong hands and then have Danvers come back for no reason, or worse. 

So, no, he doesn’t plan on calling Captain Marvel any time soon. Not if he can help it. She has better things to do, a whole universe out there to save. She does not need Nick Fury calling every time there’s a mishap on Earth. 

That being said, Fury knows that Earth needs defense. After he found out what was out there, what was really out there, he realized how exposed they were without a line of defense. They need a fighter – a hero.

The Tesseract is put in S.H.I.E.L.D. custody. The last thing Fury needs was it being misused, or worse, falling into the wrong hands again. Howard Stark had used the Tesseract for decades, for his own private experiments and research, but a few years ago, a few months prior to his death, Stark had quietly given it to the United States’ Military. Fury remembers crystal clear what had happened, the rumours that were spread around. Apparently, Stark had thought someone was after him. Someone was going to try to kill him. Of course, everyone had thought that the years of excessive intake of alcohol had finally taken its toll on the aging man. But when he and his wife had both died in a car accident three months later, Fury took it as a tragically ironic coincidence and became thankful that he gave it to the military when he did.

Three years later, sitting at his desk with a glass of scotch at three o’clock in the afternoon, Nick Fury wonders what it was exactly that Howard Stark was using the Tesseract for.

Everyone knew Stark was creating something. Only because Stark announced it to the world again and again and again. He was making something in that laboratory of his, getting the world excited for what was going to come out of it. But Howard never said what he was working on. And then he died, and Fury was never more frustrated than he was sitting at his desk, thinking about it for the first time in years.

Sure, Howard Stark probably kept his notes and whatever else. And those papers are probably sitting in a box somewhere, collecting dust, their potential wasting away. Stark’s son Anthony probably put them somewhere, who knows where, but Fury certainly isn’t about to ask.

All what he wants to know if it was a weapon. After all, Stark did give the Tesseract to the Military. Why not give it to the government, or the FBI, or SHIELD, or hell, why not let his son inherit it and continue his work, his legacy?

If Fury could get his hands on Stark’s notes, he could learn how to harness the Tesseract’s power safely and effectively, just like Stark did. Maybe he could have used the power to create a weapon to use to defend the Earth. Or use the Tesseract itself to defend the Earth. But that idea went down the drain before Fury could even think about it.

All what Fury has now is the knowledge that Earth needs a weapon. A defense mechanism. When some extraterrestrial force attacks, something they could use to retaliate.

A response team.

The world doesn’t need a weapon. The military tried to create a weapon with the Tesseract, and it gave Carol Danvers unnatural, enhanced powers. Any other person would not have absorbed the power, but would have been killed by it. The Tesseract is a weapon by itself, one that only Howard Stark knew how to use. It would be hypocritical to continue to try to use it as a weapon, or to use it to create a new weapon. The world couldn’t afford another Carol Danvers incident.

Fury downs the rest of his scotch. Then he starts up his computer, opened a new document, and titles it The Protector Initiative. He stares at it with his one good eye for all of thirty seconds. Then he glances at Goose, who is sitting in his cat bed in the corner of his office. Then he thinks about Carol Danvers, and her nickname from before everything changed. And then he backspaces, and retitles the document The Avengers Initiative.

Fury knows that Captain Marvel can’t come back every time Earth faces a threat. The world needs a response team, someone to react to threats made to the Earth. An Avengers team. Fury also knows that he didn’t have the resources required to assemble such a response team. So maybe he’d have to take it up with his superiors, or pull a lot of strings to get this thing going. But he knows it has to be done. Besides, who else is going to do it?

 **1998**  
In late April, Alexander Pierce comes to visit Nick Fury.

“Secretary,” Fury says upon seeing Pierce at his door. “What do I owe the pleasure?”

“The pleasure’s all mine, Nick,” says Pierce. “I’m here to ask you for a favour.”

Fury sets his pencil down on the desk, and leans back in his chair. “What can I do for you, Secretary Pierce.” It’s less of a question and more of a prompt.

Pierce sits down in the chair opposite of Fury’s desk. “You’ve heard about Rick Stoner.”

How could Fury not have? Rick Stoner, Director of SHIELD, was assassinated just a few weeks prior. SHIELD had been scrambling to keep it in wraps, but secrets always have a way of coming out. One secret that wouldn’t, though, was the murderer of Stoner.

“I have,” responds Fury. “Every SHIELD agent knows about it by now.”

Pierce clears his throat. “A few years ago, you ignored my direct orders and carried out an unauthorized operation in that saved several agents, including my daughter.”

Fury narrows his good eye at Pierce. He’s not sure where this is going.

“You have good instincts and prominent leadership skills. After what happened in Bogota, I’d trust you with my life.”

“Thank you, Mister Secretary,” says Fury carefully.

“As Secretary of the World Security Council, I’ve been assigned the honour of selecting a new Director for SHIELD. Mr. Fury, I’m selecting you.”

Fury stared at Pierce for a long moment. Finally, he asked: “Why?”

“Like I said –“

“No, I know what you said,” Fury interjects. “Bogota cannot be the only reason you want me as Director.”

Pierce sighs. “Mr. Fury,” he says, “you and I are both realists. We take the world as how it is, not how we want it to be. SHIELD needs someone with that perspective. We are the world’s first line of defense; we can’t afford someone who acts on ideas. We need someone who will act based on how the world is right now. Someone like you.”

Fury doesn’t break eye contact with Pierce until the man stands up, smooths over his tie, and stick his hand out across the desk. “Do me a favour, Nick,” Pierce says. “Take the job.”

Fury stares at the hand waiting for him. He stands up and clasps it with his. Pierce grins, and shakes once, firmly.

“Smart choice, Mr. Fury,” he says.

 **1999**  
When Nick Fury is elected as Director of SHIELD, the first thing he does is show Coulson the Avenges Initiative, and asks him how plausible he thinks the idea is.

Coulson says not very. Fury asks if the idea is worth it. Coulson says yes.


End file.
